When this work was discovered in the early 1900s, its plain silver inner cup became famous as the “Holy Grail,” the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:27–29). Scholars now identify the work as a standing lamp. The shape of the elaborate vine scroll shell encasing the cup is typical of lamps popular in churches of the 500s. While the identification of the seated figures inhabiting the vine scroll is not certain, the two youthful central figures probably represent Christ. He appears seated on one side, holding a scroll, and in a similar pose on the other side beside a lamb and over an eagle with outspread wings.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1952. no. 41, pp. 45, 49, 51, 221.